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One of the recipes I love to do from scratch is yogurt. I do enjoy yogurt and the cultures that help with gut health. I don’t much like store bought yogurt. There’s so much sugar and added stuff. And it goes right through my boys, causing irritations and rashes. So I prefer homemade yogurt.
I started making yogurt YEARS ago using the stove, and ice baths, and pots sitting in corners with heating pads under them. Over the years the recipe, well, less the recipe and more the process, has evolved.
I now make yogurt in my Instant Pot. I actually purchased my Instant Pot based on the yogurt setting and how much yogurt I wanted to be able to make at one time. I bought the 8 qt, hoping to make 2 gallons at a time, but I can really only fit 1-½ gallons. No worries!
Notes on my process…
So, again, I use the Instant Pot for simplicity. It really is a simple recipe when it comes to “active” cooking time, but it is a long time span from start to finished product. Especially for me, because I culture my yogurt for…wait for it…24 HOURS! Then I strain it for 8+ hours. So it’s about a 48 hours process depending on when I start and how much I forget about it.
I’ve mentioned before that my mother has celiacs. She has known for years and done a ton of research to help her body heal. One of the books she read mentioned culturing your yogurt for 24 hours for optimum benefits. She did it, strained it like we both always do, and then added vanilla extract and honey. It tasted amazing. I mean, so delicious. So I decided to give it a try the next time I made yogurt.
The next time I made it, I cultured it for 24 hours, strained it over night, and then mixed in the honey and vanilla. My husband ate some for breakfast and told me it tasted like icing. He was in love. I wouldn’t go as far as saying it tastes like icing, but it’s pretty tasty.
The boys also love it. They eat it as is, or thinned with water to drink. I also put it in smoothies. When the boys were little I would just leave some unflavored (no honey for babies under one!) for them to drink.
As I said before, I do make large batches, with not so exact measurements, but I’ll outline the process as clearly as I can.
How to Make Homemade Yogurt in the Instant Pot
Ingredients
- Whole fat milk (our preference, but feel free to use lower fat)
- ¼-½ cup PLAIN yogurt
- Vanilla extract
- Honey
Supplies
- Instant Pot (with “yogurt” button)
- Tea towel, or kitchen towel to cover Instant Pot bowl
- Candy thermometer (or any method to test milk temp)
- Colander
- Tea Towel or cheese cloth for straining
- Medium to large bowl that the colander fits into
- Small bowl
Heating the Milk
Grab your Instant Pot (make sure it has a “Yogurt” setting) and make sure it’s clean. If you have separate gaskets for sweet vs. savory dishes, I would suggest using your “sweet” one so your yogurt doesn’t end up smelling/tasting like chicken or pot roast.
Pour in the milk. Place the lid on the Instant Pot. The position of the release valve does not matter. Press the “yogurt” button, then press “adjust” until the display reads “boil.” Walk away and let it do it’s thing.
During his time the milk is being heated up to kill off any harmful bacteria that would cause the culture to die and not work. Once it’s done boiling, the Instant Pot with basically scream at you. My least favorite part about them. They REALLY want to get your attention.
Cooling the Milk
Take off the lid and set it to the side. You can cover the Instant Pot with a towel or tea towel and let it cool down while still in the base, but it will take less time if you remove it to another surface. (Insert science lesson for your kids here about WHY it cools faster OUT of the base.)
Some people place it into an ice bath in the sink for faster cooling, but I don’t like that method. I’m always worried about getting water in it, and I don’t like dumping all that ice. Personal preference.
Place it somewhere heat resistant, like the stove, or a hot pad. Cover it lightly on top, and walk away, again. It might take a few hours depending on the temp of your house. Check it every so often for the correct temperature. It needs to be right around 110 degrees Fahrenheit.
Adding the Yogurt
Once it reaches the right temp, stir in your plain yogurt starter. Getting it well mixed isn’t really a concern. I just do a few quick stirs and call it good. Place the pot BACK into the Instant Pot base. Close the lid. Again, the release valve doesn’t matter in my experience. Hit “yogurt” and then adjust the display to 24 hours. Walk away.
It will count up the hours until it hits 24 hours. Then it will SCREAM at you again. Don’t worry, it won’t let you forget! But check the time if you decide to leave the house for any reason. You don’t want it to be sitting there for hours.
Straining the Yogurt
The yogurt it done culturing, so now it’s time to strain. This step is optional, but I prefer “Greek” yogurt. It’s creamier and less tart.
I create this super fancy (not at all) bowl in a bowl, with a bowl, contraption. I like making use of what I have.
Basically I take my colander, I find a large bowl to place underneath. Make sure the width of the bottom bowl allows for all part of the draining colander to drain INTO the bottom bowl, and not all over your counter or fridge. Grab a regular cereal bowl, or a small pyrex bowl. Place it upside down in the mixing bowl. Place the colander on top of the small bowl.
Lay your tea towel or cheese cloth in the center of the colander, making sure it has plenty of overhang on top. Pour your fresh yogurt (it’s warm, don’t let that freak you out!) into your colander. Once done, gently lay the overhanging corners of your cloth over the top of your yogurt. Make a large space in the fridge for your fancy contraption and set it in there overnight, or for several hours.
Flavoring the Yogurt
Take your strained yogurt out of the refrigerator, carefully. The bottom bowl will be pretty full of whey. I usually just dump the whey down the drain. There are lots of other ways to use it though if you do a quick google search and don’t want to waste it.
Dump the thick yogurt in a bowl. (I just reuse the now empty whey bowl.) It’s perfectly fine to eat it as is. I simply dump in a few tablespoons of vanilla extra and a few large squeezes of honey. VERY precise. I just eye it and then taste as I go.
Eating the Yogurt
Well, I mean this is pretty self explanatory. At least I hope. But I just place it in a pyrex dish in the fridge and we take out what we need, when we need it. Some times I do put some in a half gallon mason jar and then add water until it reaches a good drinking consistency. Then the kids have something to drink, take with their meds, or a more liquid version for adding to smoothes.
However you choose to dress it up, enjoy!
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